Re-examine All You Have Been Told"

AGENDA:

Quotes of the day:

"The unexamined life is not worth living.".  Socrates
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.". George Santayana


ESSENTIAL QUESTION:  Why does Whitman ask the reader to "re-examine all you have been told" and how does this relate to the central themes of Transcendentalism?

REVIEW the Emerson/Whitman exercise of previous day (Venn comparison).

READ the Whitman quote and the task.  

Ms. Gamzon will model a response.

EVALUATE Whitman's argument.  Then write a paragraph response to the quote that defends, challenges or qualifies Whitman's argument (as per Question 3 of AP exam).

SHARE responses and DISCUSS.

Next week we will begin reading and analyzing selected sections of Leaves of Grass, "Song of Myself".


TRANSCENDENTALISM
“Re-examine All You Have Been Told” : Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau

"This is what you shall do..." by Walt Whitman, from the preface of Leaves of Grass.

"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

Think about the implications of Whitman’s exhortation to “dismiss whatever insults your soul.”  What are some of the things that you have been told “at school or church or in any book” that you might re-examine?

Imagine this quote is being used for Question 3 of the AP English Language and Composition Exam in May.  Write a paragraph response that defends, challenges, or qualifies Whitman’s argument.  Use specific, appropriate evidence to develop your position.